Concord’s Moonlit Walk 2019

On 19th February 2019, a group of 11 students accompanied by Mr Brown, Mrs Darrall and Mrs Carter departed for an evening walk to the summits of the Long Mynd (we ascended approximately 516m), under the light of the full moon. We had the opportunity to witness the most spectacular and breath-taking views of the Shropshire hills. Although it was a very chilly night, being able to immerse ourselves in the Shropshire countryside was undoubtedly a wonderful experience for many of us.

“Although the moon wasn’t bright as it wasn’t a particularly clear evening, the company and experience was more than worth it and it was an unforgettable night” – Emily 6.1

“I enjoyed the hike as it was interesting to see what my eyes could ‘pick out’ in darkness. We also got to play with LED balloons, designed to glow in the dark and they looked really pretty under the night sky.” – Rachael 6.1

Laura – 6.1

LawSoc: Comeback

Law is a fascinating phenomenon that penetrates practically every single aspect of our lives, from the contracts our parents signed in relation to our school to the messages and photos we send every day. However, it goes much deeper than that; it forms the very foundation of the society and the world we live in, guarding us from chaos and anarchy, and allowing us to thrive. What makes it even more astonishing is that it is constantly going through numerous metamorphoses as it evolves to suit the needs and the changing nature of our society. This means you will never have to stop learning if you are interested in law. It is a subject that you can study as a hobby, just for a little while, or it can become a passion that lasts a lifetime. No matter what your level of interest is, you are going to enjoy the new Law Society, ‘LawSoc’!

It has been a while since the last session of the old Law Society and it is certainly something that Concord requires, given the high numbers of passionate future lawyers amongst current students. Given this apparent need and our own personal passion for the subject, we have decided that it is time to revive this fantastic extracurricular activity.

The goal of the society is to learn about the various aspects of law and to get us thinking like proper law students. This will both enrich us in terms of personal development and help us with our chosen academic pathways too.

The sessions will have a defined and enjoyable format, so that you won’t get bored of any one particular element…

1) There will be time for general learning. The ‘heads’ or one of the members of the society will introduce and discuss with us a particular concept or aspect of law. We will start with basics and will work our way up to some rather advanced ideas.

2) This will be followed by an in-depth discussion and analysis of an important and interesting legal case.  We will try to approach it in a similar way to how they do in universities, but on a more rudimentary level, of course.

3) Each session you will be introduced to a law-related individual, such as notable academics, judges etc. This will make you more aware of the significant debates, influences and influencers in law.

The things you will learn and your participation will be very useful for your personal statement and potential interview(s), but more importantly for your overall awareness of the wider world.

So come along, and bring friends too!

Roman and Stacey – 6.1

Go Below

Referred to as ‘the scariest assault course in the UK’ by the Sunday Times, I would rather describe the Go-Below Underground Adventure in Snowdonia as “Thrilling, Captivating, and Exhausting”. The history and geology of the mine are definitely captivating. Having existed since the Victorian era, mining carried out there played a major role in the Industrial Revolution of Great Britain. Not to forget the thrills from activities like zip-lining, traversing and climbing to heights I previously thought I could not get to.

“The Go-Below Underground Adventure in the abandoned mines of Snowdonia was exhilarating and challenging. It was scary and fun” – Jin Han, 6.1

It was a really nice way to spend the last day of my half term and I would love to go back for the other challenges.

Antoinette – 6.1

THE ERUDITE CLUB: Live. Know. Enjoy.

There are a lot of different clubs at Concord College, mainly subject-orientated and very specific. However, in a developed society, people always benefit if they have knowledge about how the world works and if they are better-rounded than others. This idea made us think about how we could unite people with different interests and goals in life. That is why we decided to create our ERUDITE club, which helps people to know something about everything.

The structure of each session is the same, but the content changes every time. The significant parts of the sessions are biographies of famous people from science, politics, art or religion and interesting concepts, which could be applied in daily life. They interlace with smaller sections like brief description of some countries; book, fact and quote of the day and music recognition.

Another useful part is that we offer people the chance to talk on the topic they are passionate about. Thereby, they can improve their presentation and discussion skills. Additionally, we have an interactive knowledge check quiz at the end of the session. And for “dessert” we offer the renowned Japanese practice, called “kokology”. In other words, by imagining different unusual situations we discover something new about our subconsciousness.

What are we aiming for? A friendly and cosy atmosphere, where people are not afraid to express themselves and can be sure that their opinions will be heard and valued. We have already had 2 sessions. For the first, only 8 people showed up, however, on the next session we were pleased to welcome 22 people. We, Anastasiia and Azhar, have indeed experienced how the beauty of knowledge and will to succeed has brought together completely different people that help each other to learn something new about life and share what they are passionate about. After all, Concord is like a greenhouse, a place that offers a possibility to try out our abilities and potential. So why not make the most out of it?

Anastasiia and Azhar – 6.1

CREATE. ENGAGE. DISCOVER. The Revival of Concord’s CED

When Leo He, an ex-Concord student (now studying PPE at Oxford) started ‘Create Engage Discover’, I was only in Form 4. My love for learning and my fascination with stories quickly drew me to the club and I thought it was a brilliant idea to bring the widely acclaimed ‘TED Talks’ home to Concord. Over the years, I watched CED decline due to Leo’s exit from Concord. Last year, I decided to revive the club to ensure that Concord teachers and students would once again have a platform to share their knowledge, passions and ideas. This led to the rebirth of ‘CED’ in 2017 and we have never looked back since then.

It has been an amazing journey so far. We have organised six talks on very different topics ranging from “How to improve your memory” to “Dolphin”. Our first and by far our most successful talk was “How to do well in your Oxbridge interviews” in which five students who received Oxbridge offers talked to about 60 Lower Sixth students regarding the process of a successful application to the prestigious universities. We were thrilled to see the Old Chapel filled with many driven and open minded Concord students.

In terms of organisation, firstly, we look for people who are interested in giving talks. Sometimes, people come to us and sometimes we ask specific individuals to talk. We then try to find a suitable date and time. In choosing this we consider the speaker’s timetable and we seek to attract as many people as possible. I think this is the hardest part because there is always so much going on at Concord and clashes with other clubs are inevitable. Next, we advertise the talk by sticking posters around the school and updating CED’s Instagram page.

Although I am no longer the ‘head’ of CED, I am very happy to have a team of 6.1s who are enthusiastic about continuing it after I leave. Mentoring and working with them has been a really lovely process and I wish them the best of luck! In the future, I hope that CED will become a bigger club with wider recognition at Concord. I also hope that it will continue to inspire people to learn and share their knowledge with others, as well as erasing the fear some people have – that they are not good enough to give a talk. No one is “not good enough!!!” If you have something that you really want to share with others, share it!

Heidi Vuong – 6.2